Summertime is here!

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At last in Boston the sun has appeared. We have been having 50 degree days and clouds and rain since I got here. Now a week of warm and sunny has been forecast! And it's such a delight to have sunshine! The backyard again becomes a place to hang out and play and it's time to plant all the warm weather loving vegies and they are some of the ones we love the most.

The nurseries are bursting with both flowers and vegetables, and the kids have planted some pumpkin seeds that germinated nicely. The squirrels are a real problem here and there isn't a cat or a dog to deter them, so tomatoes and summer squash will have to be planted on the deck where they are more protected. It's impossible to not to want some zucchini for the summer. It's fast growing, prolific, and a versatile companion to almost any meal.

You should start several plants in sequence of about two or three weeks to get a steady and abundant source of zukes. Zucchini are usually picked when under eight inches in length, while the seeds are soft and immature. Some are picked with the flowers still attached and the zucchini barely formed.

Zucchini can be prepared steamed, boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried, or incorporated in other recipes such as soufflés. It also can be baked into a bread, zucchini bread or incorporated into a cake mix. Its flowers can be eaten stuffed and are a delicacy when deep fried, as tempura.

At Black Beauty Zucchini

May 31, 2011

Summertime is here!